Tawny owl chick has a hard time getting it down

This little chick nearly bit off more than it could chew (so to speak). It takes nearly 5 minutes to chuck back a small rat brought in by the mother. Mrs Owl didn't stay to watch -- she went off to greet her mate in a nearby tree. Later she comes back and settles down with the chicks. The mouse/rat you see in her beak then is one she picked from a stash out of sight below the camera. The raspy grunting noises heard at the end are her way of telling the chicks to go to sleep.
Filmed early morning 20 April 2008.
More on www.godsownclay.com and go to the Nesting Diary 2008 pages.
Postscript Feb 2009: This owl and a 4-yo sister are currently subjects of a release study. Look for link "Release of two tawnies" on my home page (url given above).

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Tawny
• Owl
• Feed
• Rat
• Mouse
• Chick
• Mother
• Nestbox
• Wildlife

[romillyh]

Thankyou! This plucky little owl, now called Zoe, is still around and doing well. I heard her most recently about ten nights ago, on Jan 20th 09. She's living with her older sister and her (sister's) boyfriend.

[Wyrmshadow]

This is really cool. Thank you for recording it in the 1st place then sharing.